Sarasota is home to the same number of EB-5 regional centers as Tampa and Orlando, and has more than Jacksonville — major metros with at least five times the local community's population.

Projects that these regional centers are pursuing include an office and retail complex in Miami, a Brazilian restaurant chain’s expansion in Florida, a high-end marina on the shores of the Peace River in Charlotte County and church-affiliated assisted-living centers in Sarasota and North Port.

Here is a look at the local players:

Florida Overseas Investment Center

The website for Florida Overseas Investment Center.

Listing a post office box at the small Mail Pack Center of Siesta Key as its principal address on state records, Florida Overseas Investment Center was aiming its EB-5 money at a $35 million mixed-use office and retail project in Miami.

But the EB-5 regional center, run by 71-year-old Benjamin R. Norton and his wife, Julie, is embroiled in a lawsuit related to the project from a former partner over the alleged misuse of EB-5 funds.

An affiliate of Suncoast Community Partners LLC, Norton’s Sarasota company, was sued last year in Miami-Dade County court by a South Florida developer — and Norton’s one-time partner at Design District Development — who was building a $35 million mixed-use office and retail project in Miami.

Before forming Design District Development, Asi Cymbal was a top member in the partnership that acquired the site in the heart of booming Miami.

Cymbal alleges in his suit that he was contacted by Benjamin Norton in early 2010 about an opportunity to secure financing for the development. Norton pitched the EB-5 program, boasting about his expertise in the industry.

To Cymbal, it sounded almost too good to be true. At the time, banks were still recovering from the Great Recession and were picky about who they would back with loans. Cymbal thought EB-5 seemed like the most viable option to get his long-awaited project off the ground, according to his lawsuit.

The two formed a partnership through the limited liability company Design District Development. Norton was responsible for financing. Cymbal would spearhead design and construction.

The lawsuit states that for two years, Norton struggled to secure the EB-5 money he promised, until finally raising enough capital in June 2012 to begin construction.

Within one year, Norton exhausted that money and defaulted on payments to Cymbal’s construction company for four consecutive months of work, the suit claims.

Cymbal, as a manager and principal of Design District Development, says in his suit that he asked to review his company’s own books. But later that year, after months without a response from his partners, Design District Development amended its annual report to remove Cymbal as a manager. Cymbal’s suit claims that violated terms of the operating agreement, which limits the board from taking such steps without a meeting or written consent by every board member, which would have included Cymbal himself.

When reached by the Herald-Tribune, Cymbal declined to speak on the record, citing the pending litigation and advice from his attorney.

Norton says the claims in the EB-5 lawsuit are baseless and that he fired Cymbal over financial mismanagement, which he believes prompted the litigation.

The case is expected to go to trial sometime next year.

“Anybody can sue anybody for a ham sandwich,” Norton said. “I run a very conservative, very excellent program. Someone is trying to get money, so they’re going to dig up whatever they can.”

Norton says the primary focus of his regional center — which he says has a physical office in Miami — is building charter schools. He says he has completed more than 25 of these projects across the state with EB-5 money.

“A lot of communities are not flush with cash because of the economic situation, and charter schools consistently outperform public schools,” Norton said. “This is a way for these communities to have extraordinary facilities, funded by people coming into this country.”

Norton had previously seen his license revoked by the New York Stock Exchange. In 1986, the exchange’s hearing panel made that decision by a unanimous vote after Norton failed to comply with written requests from the exchange for information regarding unspecified matters that occurred while he was as an officer of Norton & Co., an exchange member, federal records from the case show.

Those records show Norton never formally responded to the request, a violation of New York Stock Exchange rules. Neither he nor anybody on his behalf appeared at the hearing on the matter.

But Norton said he did ultimately testify in the case, and was invited back to be reinstated by NYSE. He says he never opted to do so.

“That’s old history,” Norton said.

Twenty-one years later, Norton’s ex-wife, Mary Underhill McLaughlin, sued his present wife in an attempt to recover alimony. McLaughlin alleged Julie Norton colluded with Benjamin Norton to hide and manipulate assets to avoid paying what at the time was nearly $160,000 in court-ordered judgments, according to court records.

In that same litigation, McLaughlin claims Benjamin Norton forced her into a bankruptcy that ultimately led to an FBI investigation over a pattern of transferring assets to avoid credit judgments, according to the lawsuit. McLaughlin later dropped the case. She told the Herald-Tribune she still has not received any of the alimony.

Florida EB-5 Regional Center LLC

Another of the three EB-5 regional centers based in Sarasota, Florida EB-5 Regional Center LLC, operates from the same fifth-floor office suites on Ringling Boulevard as Sperry Van Ness, one of the area’s most recognizable real estate brokerages. The regional center and the brokerage share some principals.

The business has helped provide EB-5 financing to third-party developers for projects that include four assisted-living centers and a Marriott hotel. A website for the center advertises the EB-5 process as the “fastest and easiest way” to permanent U.S. residency.

Larry Starr. HERALD-TRIBUNE ARCHIVE

The company was registered by David Rosenberg, a Sarasota real estate attorney, whose practice also shares the same floor as the EB-5 center. On paper, the company’s top manager is Larry Starr, an area entrepreneur who operates a luxury automotive company and real estate ventures, including the Sperry Van Ness operation on Ringling.

But Dennis Bruce Slater, also listed as a manager on official state corporation filings, says he obtained controlling interests in the regional center in 2013, with Starr and Rosenberg now serving as silent minority partners.

In an interview with the Herald-Tribune, Slater said his regional center operates like a bank, using EB-5 funds to help developers with equity. The center has seven active EB-5 projects, and has collected a combined $65 million in foreign capital through the program. Slater estimates those funds will help create 1,300 jobs.

None of the developments are directly through Slater or any of his partners. Instead, Slater says he secures EB-5 funds — mostly from investors in South America — for other developers who want to tap into the program without seeking their own regional center status.

“It’s the old adage of if you really need the money, don’t ask me,” Slater said. “But if you’re a well capitalized enterprise, that wants to expand, this is for you. ... We operate like a bank, with the same fiduciary duty to investors that a lender has to its shareholders.”

The Sarasota center’s EB-5 model is based on changes to federal laws in 2013 that allow developers to use the EB-5 process as a construction loan.

Slater and his center earn a profit by taking a cut of the loan, he said. He uses law firms in Brazil and the U.S. to find interested investors.

His latest EB-5 endeavor is helping to raise $25 million for one of the largest chain restaurants in Brazil, which is seeking to expand its U.S. footprint, Slater said.

The Spoleto Italian Kitchen has two restaurants in Orlando, part of a Brazil-based corporation that operates more than 700 restaurants in South America. The company wants to build 25 more of its Italian kitchens in greater Orlando, and as many as 100 across the Sunshine State, using EB-5 for the aggressive expansion.

Slater has put together a marketing presentation that he says he will take to investors overseas to help sell the concept. He acknowledges there are flaws in the EB-5 program, but said he believes the jobs benefit to the economy is understated and outweighs any glitches.

“It became a program people tried to exploit,” Slater said of EB-5. “There have been some controversial projects. But it is, in my opinion, an extremely strong job-generating program for our country.”

Besides EB-5, Slater had a four-decade career in the automotive industry and also says he operates CFO Solutions LLC, which provides strategic planning and business analysis.

Slater previously managed car dealerships in the Tampa Bay area, including University Chevrolet — which was owned by U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, while Slater was there. Slater became chief operating officer of the Buchanan Automotive Group.

Slater says Buchanan, whom he remains in touch with, has no involvement in his current EB-5 efforts.

Starr, the regional center’s original founder, was connected to the alleged $55 million Smith Advertising Ponzi scheme, putting his own money in Smith receivables and reportedly soliciting others to make similar investments, federal records show. But Starr says he was a victim in the case and was never charged.

Starr declined to comment on his ties to Smith, but said, “My partners and I saw the EB-5 program as a way to not only raise money for different projects at a time when financing dried up, but also allow foreign investors to have a fast track to a visa. It’s a program pushed by the U.S. government, and it is very successful now.”

Charlotte Harbor Regional Center LLC

Sarasota also is where one of the first EB-5 regional centers in Florida was registered.

But even as the program exploded in popularity among business people, and billions of dollars of foreign investment began flowing into the U.S., this company has not been able to find much success.

Charlotte Harbor Regional Center LLC has long had plans for a marina on the Peace River in Charlotte County, through a partnership with the local government.

A rendering of the proposed EB-5 marina project in Charlotte County. PHOTO PROVIDED BY ALLEN HEISE

From a corporate suite on Main Street in downtown Sarasota, Allen Heise plans to raise as much as $40 million through EB-5 to build the upscale marina with room for more than 600 boat slips and a rooftop heliport on the site of a former motel. The pitch came with promises of creating hundreds of jobs. Heise also told area officials he would reserve space to build new digs for Charlotte County’s economic development and tourism departments.

Heise, who has built his career developing high-end condominium and commercial projects in Naples and other parts of Florida, previously said the marina would be up and running by 2012. But Heise in 2012 transferred the 1.9 acres at 3491 Tamiami Trail to his father, Richard A. Heise Sr., through a deal valued at $4.36 million. A Chicago company managed by Allen Heise paid $3 million for the land in August 2006 and owed more than $4 million to the older Heise at the time of the transfer, court records show.

Allen Heise has since said that although his father is listed as the owner on tax bills and other official property records, he remains in control of the land.

The younger Heise said he still hopes the marina will become a reality, but his goal for construction to begin has been postponed until at least 2017. He blames part of the delay on the Great Recession, part on increased competition from other regional centers. He also speculates that the timing of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services moving its EB-5 administrative offices from California to Washington, D.C., somehow pushed his project to the back of the line.

Heise says he has foreign investors who have been waiting 49 months for their EB-5 application approval — nearly four times longer than the current national average.

“My marina project just fell through the cracks,” Heise said during an October interview with the Herald-Tribune. “It was very unique and bad timing. I was in it right as it exploded.”

Heise has slowly been working on the property: Razing the old motel, building docks, repairing the seawall and readying the site for utilities.

Although his was among the first 50 regional centers to be approved nationwide, Heise says he only turned to EB-5 at the request of Charlotte County’s economic development arm, which he said wanted to use his project to promote other EB-5 opportunities.

“I don’t need their money at all,” he said. “I don’t need EB-5 funds. I don’t need these investors. I’m happy without them ... but now, I have to continue for the ones already in the shoe.”

Heise said the EB-5 program has drifted too far from its original intent, with struggling areas like his now taking a backseat to tony Manhattan and Miami.

“What EB-5 has turned into is more capital stake for a developer, who maybe before needed to bring 10 percent of his own equity but now only needs six,” Heise said. “That difference is 4 percent in the developer’s pocket, and that doesn’t create any additional jobs.

“It is just more developer profits.”

Omega Florida Regional Center

Besides hosting regional centers, Sarasota also has been the target for developments by projects from those in other states.

Omega Florida Regional Center focuses on building senior-living communities — including some on or near churches — with plans to build or acquire dozens more.

Based in Birmingham, Alabama, Omega is run by Patrick L. Trammell Jr. The company also operates a regional center in Puerto Rico.

Omega has been involved in two projects in Sarasota County with EB-5 money.

The Springs at South Biscayne, a 138-bed senior living community, is at 6235 Hoffman St. in North Port on land formerly owned by the South Biscayne Church. The facility was built by Omega Florida Regional Center and financed, in part, by EB-5 funds. STAFF PHOTO / THOMAS BENDER

The first is a 138-bed community on a 32-acre campus in North Port, at the South Biscayne Church. Omega’s website says it planned to raise $5 million to $10 million through EB-5. The total estimated cost of the project is $25.6 million.

Omega said it would use the investment bank HJ Sims to issue bonds for construction, which was completed during the summer.

Omega acquired the site in 2012, when the religious organization headed by its senior pastor, John Cross, sold nine acres at 13000 S. Tamiami Trail to PT Omega Financing LLC for $964,200, according to Sarasota County property records. Immediately after the sale, PT Omega Financing transferred the land to North Port SLC LLC, another Birmingham company managed by Trammel. The property previously had been owned by the 50,000-square-foot church since 1994, property records show.

The church borrowed $1 million that year and gradually increased its bank debt to $4.1 million by April 2008, county court records show. About $440,000 of the proceeds were paid to the church and $522,200 paid off a loan from Trammel, who did not return calls from the Herald-Tribune to discuss the project.

Cross said the facility debuted in late summer. He emphasized that the church no longer owned the property and declined to elaborate on the financial ties to Omega.

“It’s just a great faith-based model,” Cross said. “We had always dreamed of doing (a senior-living center), and we believe God brought Mr. Trammell and Omega across our paths. They purchased this property, built a five-star facility and it has just been fantastic.”

Omega also is finishing a 126-unit senior-living community on the 45-acre Church of Hope in Sarasota.

Again, Omega came out with plans to use up to $10 million in EB-5 funds and also tapped HJ Sims to finance construction.

The ministry’s top pastor, Scott Young, said the assisted-living center has been part of the church’s master plans with the county since the first building was first constructed at the religious campus eight years ago. With about 3,000 members, Church of Hope is one of the most prominent churches in this region.

Young said that those living at the center would not necessarily have to be church members, but that the goal of the development was to help reach new people. The senior-living center broke ground in late 2014, and is expected to be completed by early next year.

Young said he was introduced to Omega through an architect, who believed the company could help with funding. A third-party operator will run the ALF after it opens.

“Assisted living is part of us helping people as they move toward their later years,” Young said. “The funding has helped us to have the center here without taking church money for the brick and mortar. ... Our real interest is in helping minister to people who live there.”